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Meizu Mblu Lifeme Pro Portable DAC/Amp Review

Rate this DAC & HP Amp

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 5 3.4%

  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 34 22.8%

  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 88 59.1%

  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 22 14.8%
  • Total voters
    149
Current consumption only 27mA IS great, wont drain Phone's battery that quick.
 
Aperiodic said:
Mine regularly surprises me with good recordings. Stick to IEMs and sensitive examples of full-size cans and you should be fine.
When I saw what this was, I half expected a mention given the ubiquity of "the $9 phone dongle". It's been around long enough to get a seniors discount...
Click to expand...

Aperiodic,

The Apple Dongle DAC is an oldie but goodie!

Seriously, I‘ll bellyache about not having a 3.5mm jack on my iPhones but for $9, the dongle is a decent enough workaround and isn’t expensive enough to get worked up about.
 
TheWalkman said:
Aperiodic,

The Apple Dongle DAC is an oldie but goodie!

Seriously, I‘ll bellyache about not having a 3.5mm jack on my iPhones but for $9, the dongle is a decent enough workaround and isn’t expensive enough to get worked up about.
Click to expand...
I heat shrink mine and they last years
 
Happy to see it reviewed, always been curious how much worse it could be compared to the old Meizu HiFi and in general what one could expect from these Conexant based dongles.

Toni Mas said:
Regarding the jitter issue, I have been using as pure DAC another Conexant CX31993 based similar device on a linux computer and checked that the usb interface works in adaptative mode now considered almost obsolete vs async mode offering better jitter performance and now ubiquitous on state of the art DACs using an XMOS chip based USB interface. At this price point no XMOS inside...:p
Click to expand...
Don't know about original Meizu HiFi Pro but my Ugreen HiFi, that should be a clone of it (CS43131+OPA1622) goes in sync mode too:

UGREEN UGREEN HiFi Audio Amplifier at usb-0000:00:1d.7-3, high speed : USB Audio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Playback:
Status: Stop
Interface 1
Altset 1
Format: S24_3LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (SYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 24
Interface 1
Altset 2
Format: S16_LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (SYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 16
Interface 1
Altset 3
Format: S32_LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (SYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 32
Click to expand...

And infact L7audiolab test, despite many good measures, revealed similar jitter issues.
Anyway I couldn't be happier having bought it when it was available 20 months ago.
 
Last edited:
TheWalkman said:
Aperiodic,

The Apple Dongle DAC is an oldie but goodie!

Seriously, I‘ll bellyache about not having a 3.5mm jack on my iPhones but for $9, the dongle is a decent enough workaround and isn’t expensive enough to get worked up about.
Click to expand...
My wife with her iPhone 11 for a while sent through an Apple dongle about once every 2 weeks. One has to be careful not to tug too heavily on it.
 
Last edited:
Yorkshire Mouth said:
If there an iPhone version?

I’m amazed this isn’t an integral part of any and every portable dac/amp review. It’s not as if there are only 2 or 3 people with iPhones.
Click to expand...
Pretty soon iPhones will have USB-C connections so old lightning based dongles will start to disappear
 
Both my wife and son use Apple dongles on their Android phones. No issues so far. They do use other headphones a lot, though.
 
Natal said:
My wife with her iPhone 11 for a while sent through an Apple dongle about once every 2 weeks. One has to be careful not to tug too heavily on it.
Click to expand...

Natal,

I hear you. I have boxes of heat shrink tubing, so I cut a small piece and reinforce the far-too-thin wire on the Apple dongle. (Why they would choose such high gauge wire is beyond me.)

Added bonus: the red color makes it harder to lose as well as find in a tangle of earbuds!

IMG_3798.jpeg
 
Jeromeof said:
Pretty soon iPhones will have USB-C connections so old lightning based dongles will start to disappear
Click to expand...

This is true. But (in the UK at least) most people are on a 2 year upgrade pattern, and we haven’t seen anything of an iPhone with USB-C. So it could be 3 years or more until most gave one, by which time anyone who’s bought this will be upgrading their dongle anyway.

Just my take on it.
 
amirm said:
I gave one of my dongles to my wife to use. Last a month before the cable became intermittent. :(
Click to expand...
You gave your wife a measly dongle?
I had assumed you would have given her one of your Mojo2s, at least! :)
 
Last edited:
Nango said:
Current consumption only 27mA IS great, wont drain Phone's battery that quick.
Click to expand...
Even 50mA ain't much!
I assume, when the device is supplying max output, it would use about that much.
On a non-related subject:
My DIY cable
I made a DIY USB cable for my portable devices. On the cable there is a USB-HUB and a 500GB storage. So using the cable with my DAC and my phone, enables my phone to see the 500GB and play from it.
I had to test various tiny HUBs and Storage devices to get one that uses the least current.
The last I checked the cable in use, was using 75mA or so, and that did not drain my phone battery that quickly. My phone itself was using about 300mA by itself, just for comparison.
 
Last edited:
Natal said:
My wife with her iPhone 11 for a while sent through an Apple dongle about once every 2 weeks. One has to be careful not to tug too heavily on it.
Click to expand...
Use heat shrink on it. Mine has lasted now for 2 years going on 3.
 
TheWalkman said:
Natal,

I hear you. I have boxes of heat shrink tubing, so I cut a small piece and reinforce the far-too-thin wire on the Apple dongle. (Why they would choose such high gauge wire is beyond me.)

Added bonus: the red color makes it harder to lose as well as find in a tangle of earbuds!

View attachment 300553
Click to expand...
Exactly like I did.
 
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